‘Gallows Wood’ by Louisa Scarr

Published by Canelo, 
11 July 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-651-6 (PB)

Police Constable Lucy Halliday and her “sniffer” dog Moss are called to Gallows Wood in the New Forest. A chewed hand has been found and Moss is needed to find the rest of the body. It takes him no time at all, and Lucy is overcome with grief at the sight of a dead man. She momentarily thinks it’s her husband Nico, a journalist who disappeared two years ago. However, a friend of hers is with her at the discovery and assures her it is not him.

Lucy has been trying to trace him for the two years, sure after no sightings that he has been murdered. She has kept a file of men who have gone missing and/or died and hands it to the new man heading the team, Detective Inspector Jack Ellis. However, he is not happy with her investigations, thinks it is not really part of her job, plus it is too close to her personally.

Then she and Moss find another body. This time it’s a woman and she has been dead for a few months. Both have blunt force trauma to the head, thought to be caused by a baseball bat. An organised wider search is now put in hand.

The bodies are identified, the man was the son of a police officer at the station. The woman was married to a detective sergeant in the drug squad. He never even reported her missing.

When Nico’s body is found, and Lucy is now more determined than ever to discover what is going on. Connections are found to an organised drug dealing gang run by Albanians. Lucy tells Jack that Nico was investigating a story for his newspaper but he wouldn’t say what it was. He kept all his papers and notes together in his camper van which has never been found. This now becomes a priority.

Then there is another death.

The more Jack, Lucy and the team investigate the more they are convinced that there is corruption within the police force, even involving people in their own Hampshire police station. 

Throughout the book there are descriptions of a seemingly young girl named Daisy being kept prisoner in a dark and gloomy place. Who can she be? It is not until near the end of the book the reader learns who it is and what a surprise when Daisy’s identity is revealed.

A really highly recommended brilliantly written book with a fascinating insight into police dogs and their handlers.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Louisa Scarr studied Psychology at the University of Southampton and has lived in and around the city ever since. She works as a freelance copywriter and editor, and when she's not writing, she can be found pounding the streets in running shoes or swimming in muddy lakes.

 

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.